Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Nicole has received her author copies of her second release, Power Unbound(book 2 of The Dream of the Asarlai).It's scheduled to go on sale 1st January 2011, but look for it on the shelves before Christmas!

Jess AnastasiJess has signed a contract with Noble Romance Publishing for a romantic suspense, Dead Reality. It is about two FBI agents who go undercover on a bachelor-type reality TV show to catch a serial killer.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Your debut novel,Night’s Cold Kisswas both shortlisted for an Aurealis Award and won theR*BY award for Romantic Elements. Congratulations! How did this change your view of your work and you as a writer?

It’s a little surreal to have your work nominated for the Aurealis best horror novel and the Romantic Book of the Year in the same year. But it was gratifying to see that I have successfully been able to appeal to both genres. The Aurealis nominations was surprising, with that particular award your book can be put forward for more than one category and NCK was up for Best Fantasy and Best Horror – as there is no Urban Fantasy category. Being a finalist in the R*BY was amazing, and to then go on and win it, words cannot explain how honoured and surprised I was.

Your next book,Death’s Sweet Embrace,is due for release early next year – can you tell us a little about this?

Death’s Sweet Embrace is a different book to NCK though. The heroine, Kitt, is a doctor who is more mature and level headed than Antoinette. DSE is set in the same world and while Antoinette does get quite a bit of page space in this book, it is Kitt’s story.

The concept of the Dark Brethren series is like a TV series centring in the same world with a key set of characters. Each book contains a self contained story/mystery and focuses on different character as the main protagonists. But just because one hero or heroine has had a book, does not mean necessarily mean that it’s the end of their tale. Book three had a different protagonist again, but with another book I have planned I want to go back into Antoinette and Christian’s lives.

Who are you favourite authors?

I have so many but I have decided to break it down to my top five and why.

1. Stephen King – he is the master of a scary tale – although my husband would disagree. I love how his stories build up and up from a slowish start until all it all comes together.

2. Raymond E Feist – he was my window into adult fantasy. The Magician is probably my all time favourite book.

Tracey with George R.R. Martin at WorldCon

3. George RR Martin – I love how he twists the reader and takes then along for the ride. I get lost in George’s books and actually get depressed to have to leave it and come back to the real world.

4. Terry Pratchett – OMG – laugh out loud funny. If I want to laugh I read a Terry Pratchett book and all is right with the world. Death and Death of Rats are my favourite characters.

5. Anne McCaffrey – one word – Dragons. No more needs to be said.

I do have many more favourite authors, as you may have noticed that there are no romance writers in there – that is because I have only been reading romance for the last 6 years. But I do have them – and like I said – too many to name.

Do you have a favourite spec fiction movie or TV series?

OMG – do I – again like authors too hard to many to name. So again – I am going to name my top five and why.

1. Supernatural – I’m in serious lust with the car. I love that deep rumble of the engine and the heavy metal music on the stereo. Though not so fond of the squeaky doors. But I really like the mix of paranormal and humour and love the banter between the brothers Sam and Dean.

2. Firefly – The characters in that show are just so well done. I have a soft spot for each of them – except the doctor – sometime he just annoys me.

3. All the Alien movies – even the one with Winona Rider in it. And Ripley is the original Kick Arse heroine.

4. Terminator – the first one. While the others are good to okay, it is the first one that gives me that heart pumping suspense – especially with that music.

5. Star Trek Next Generation – also one word – Picard. Though I will go on to say I am re-watching this with my husband at the moment and totally love it.

Noticeable absences from this list are Buffy, Angel and True Blood. The reason being is that I don’t like the lead characters all that much. Buffy and Sookie are just downright annoying in an “oh woe is me – I’m so important and everything happens to me, you must all feel sorry for me – I’m the centre of the universe” way. Angel and Bill are pretty pathetic in an “oh woe is me – I’m a vampire and such a monster so I’m just going to sulk because I will never be good enough” way. But it’s the secondary characters that make those shows well worth watching. Still it keeps them from my top 5.

I am also waiting with baited breath for TheGame of Thrones series based on the George RR Martin series The Song of Ice and Fire.

You attended WorldCon (AussieCon 4) in Melbourne this year. How did it appear to appear as a published author?

Wow, Worldcon was so much fun. Hanging out and partying. Awesome. AND got to meet

GEORGE RR MARTIN (see top five fav authors above). He held my hand – and I even got a photo thanks to Erica Hayes.

It was strange being a published author – a lot more people knew who I was than I imagined. I pretty much expected to be invisible in that world. And on the other hand – I was invisible to a lot so I could just hang out and be a spec fic fan like the rest.

I love the dark look and uniformity of your covers (they’re spectacular) – did you have any say in them?

Yes and no. The first one I described the opening scene and what I would like to see on the cover. What they came up with totally met my description and exceeded my expectations. I almost cried with joy. With DSE I was asked for my input – and that cover will never be seen. The final cover they did come up with was again so perfect and matched a scene in the book my editor suggested we use. I had the same cover artist – Larry Ronstant – who has done an absolutely AMAZING job. Hope he does my next one too.

Do have a favourite of your characters?

It’s a hard question – but I do have to say one of my favourites is Viktor. And yes – those of you who have read NCK – I know. I really know.

What is your favourite part of the process of writing?

Revising.

Because revising gives me a chance to take a skeletal story and flesh it out, building the layers of detail and depth.

Revising is making my story shine.

And best of all - revising means I have written.

Tracey's Death's Sweet Embraceis due for release in January in the US and in April in Australia.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Between a warrior and a princess comes an erotic passion as all-consuming as the hatred between their warring worlds…

When Tiberius Valerius Maximus stormed into my mind late one August evening, I had no idea of the world he inhabited beyond the fact he was searching for his Druid princess lover, and there was a deranged High Druid lurking in the shadows. It wasn’t until I started writing Forbidden, book one in the Forbidden series set during the first century AD, that I uncovered the magical elements that were as much a part of their lives as the conflict between their two peoples.

I discovered the reason why Carys and her clan had been able to remain hidden from the Roman invaders was because the gods had constructed a magical enclave. I was enthralled. Who knew? But much as I wanted to keep writing to find out what happened next, I had only the most basic knowledge of the deities at the time, and so had to break off and do Research.

I have a love/hate relationship with research. I love it because it’s fascinating and there’s always so much to learn. But I hate the way time vanishes, hours, entire days if I don’t restrain myself! But I wasn’t under contract, I didn’t have an agent, and in a secret corner of my heart I didn’t think a book set in this time with these protagonists would ever find a home.

But I had to write the book.

Cerridwen, Goddess of Wisdom, was the driving force behind Forbidden. And yet the Morrigan, the Triple Aspect Great Goddess, demanded her voice be heard.

Trained in sensuality, a Druid priestess finds herself falling for the wrong man—the warrior who’s taken her prisoner…

Morwyn is Carys’s best friend and at the start of Captive is suffering from a crisis of faith. An acolyte of the Morrigan, she’s turned her back on everything she has ever believed in but in so doing is denying an essential part of her soul.

The hero, Bren, has been undercover in the Roman Legions for the last three years, and believes in nothing but fighting for his Briton king. Until he meets Morwyn, that is.

Despite the fact Morwyn considers Bren her bitterest enemy, she can’t deny the scorching desire that ignites between them. And why should she? To take him as her lover would infuriate the Morrigan. What sweet revenge!

But since when can a mortal take on a powerful goddess and hope to win?

The Morrigan is fascinating. As the War Goddess she represents devastation and regeneration. The Triple Goddess: Maiden, Mother and Crone. The cycle of life.

Both Carys in Forbidden and Morwyn in Captive have to make seemingly impossible choices. The Signs from their goddesses aren’t always clear cut.

I’m giving away a copy of Forbidden to one lucky commenter or, if the winner doesn’t mind waiting until I receive my author copies in January, an early copy of Captive. Just leave a comment on this post, or tell us who is your fave god/goddess from ancient times and why?

I’ll pick a winner next Wednesday, 1st December (oh no not December already!!) so be sure to pop back then!

Phew! I'm recovering from the incredibly complex procedure I used to draw the winner of our third Magic Thursday giveaway.

Wanna know what that complex procedure was?

Well, I wrote all the correct entries on notepaper, cut them up into strips, stuck them in my Akubra hat, held that hat waaaaay the heck above my head, stirred the bits of paper round with my fingers for a bit, and drew one out.

Can't get much fairer than that ;-)

And the winner of my Hell Hath No Fury giveaway is....

***R. K. CHARRON!***

Congratulations, R.K. Your prize choice, an electronic copy of my novella, Even Demons Get The Blues, will be on its way to you soon.

If you ask a dozen authors about their journey to publication, it’s very likely you’ll get 12 different answers as there is no one size fits all path. I took a seemingly random trail through the woods.

After writing 2 novels, and taking nearly 4 years to do so, I decided I needed another option otherwise I was going to spend years writing books no one would see. I needed a faster way to learn how to craft a compelling story.

Instead of short stories I decided on novellas. Novellas are bite sized stories that still have a story arc, but lack subplots, yet are long enough to develop characters and build a world.

I read lots of them and did some market research before I started so I knew what the epublishers were looking for with regards to genre and word count. Then I wrote four one after the other. With four very different heroes and heroines. These stories were linked by the band Lucinda’s Lover, a Vampire electric string quartet. The first story, Kissing Phoenix, will be out next year. Over the next 12 months I wrote my 3rd novel and four more novellas…then I started selling (but not in the order I'd written them).

Novellas taught me how to write tight and keep the focus on the romance. But also the freedom to try something different while knowing that if it failed it hadn’t taken long to write. I dabbled in different genres, erotic romance, fantasy, paranormal…and I still have a historical I’d love to write.

So if you’re wondering if you could switch genre, or want to test out your voice in first person why not dip your toe in the short end of the pool and try out a novella. Pressed for time or have small children but want to keep writing?

A novella could be the answer.

Boyfriend in a Bottle and An Elemental Tail are out now, and How to Breathe Fire and Kissing Phoenix are out in 2011.
You can find Shona’s website here
And blogging with the Winkgirls

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Well, as an author who can't seem to write anything without adding a paranormal element, my take on it was slightly different: "Hell hath no fury like a Felinoid demon scorned." Or to be even more precise, "Hell hath no fury like those secondary characters who want their own darn story!"

You see, when I started writing my first published novella, Even Demons Get The Blues, I had the hero, Rez, and the heroine, Leisa, firmly fixed in my head. I knew exactly where their story was going, and how they'd finally get their Happy Ever After -- despite interference from Lucifer, Sentinels, Destroyer demons and pesky little things like Destiny-with-a-capital-D.

Here's my thumbnail of Leisa:

She sure looks like an angel but she’s on a slippery slope straight to Hell. Under the influence of a Destroyer demon, she was provoked into committing a terrible crime. She’s lost everyone she loves and she’s filling the empty space in her soul with alcohol and casual sex. And those morning afters, when she wakes up next to some guy and can’t even remember his name, sure ain’t pretty.

Rezon is the sole surviving Drakon demon, and the most badass demon in Hell. He spent the last 4000 years as his king’s enforcer. And no one kicked demon butt better than Rez. But he got fed up with all the gory bickering and back-stabbing, and much to King Asmodeus’s disgust, Rez opted out and took up Beguiling. When he can be bothered fulfilling his quotas, Rez is the quintessential poster-boy of the Beguiler Unit… until he cops a glimpse of Leisa.

So I'd envisioned the characters, I knew where the story was going, and I wrote it. No problem. Easy peasy, right?

Um, not exactly.

What I didn't know was that I'd end up with such vivid secondary characters. In fact, they were so vivid -- not to mention mouthy and sarcastic and just plain fascinating -- that I had real trouble scaling them back and letting Rez and Leisa, take centre-stage.

Heck, this aforementioned Felinoid demon, Naamah, even tried to take over the entire first chapter! She was the hero's sometime lover. She'd had a crush on him for centuries, ever since he'd saved her from being eaten when she was a mewling wee demonling. Her talent was Beguiling, and by crikey, she was gonna continue to beguile Rez -- whether he liked it or not! She was sooo not impressed when I was forced to inform her that this story was not all about her. The shrieks and tantrums when I cut her scenes were enough to make even my dead-straight hair curl.

And don't even get me started on Asmodeus, the Demon King. That amoral, sarcastic, painfully handsome devil could quite easily take up 100 pages or so, just on his own. He was so much fun to write. Little wonder that one of my editors would go on to comment that my novellas were novels trying to break free, LOL.

I got there in the end and managed to keep to the word-count and make my secondary characters toe the line. Go me!

But although Even Demons Get The Blues was most definitely Rez and Leisa's story, I kept dwelling on poor Naamah. She'd lost Rez to Leisa. She'd managed to, excuse my language, royally piss Asmodeus off. She had all the self-esteem of a flea and didn't believe herself worthy of being loved. And it broke my heart to leave her that way.

So what's a broken-hearted writer to do?

Well, folks, that's what my Blubber.doc file is for. Every time I cut a scene I really love, it gets pasted into the Blubber file. My theory is that the characters you're forced to scale back in your current work-in-process won't hate you and haunt you quite so much if you don't consign their scenes to the trash. They'll just lurk and prey on your mind for a while instead. And then, KAPOW! They'll pounce on your unsuspecting muse.

Hence, when it came time to write Let Sleeping Demons Lie, the second novella, I had a few really great scenes for Naamah already good to go. Not to mention a few spotlight scenes to keep Asmodeus happy till I get around to writing his HEA. But that's a whole 'nother story ;-)

Well, that's it from me.... except for the giveaway of course!

So to thank you all for being patient while I rambled on, I'd like to offer a giveaway to a commenter who can tell me:

1) what kind of demon Rez is, and2) what kind of demon Naamah is.

From those who 've answered correctly I'll choose one commenter at random.

And the prize?

A choice of either an electronic copy of Even Demons Get The Blues or Let Sleeping Demons Lie -- feel free to note your preference when you leave a comment.

BTW: Both these novellas are standalones, although there are recurring characters. And if you can't decide which one to choose, you can read the blurbs for both books (plus there are links to excerpts) on the My Books page of my website.

I'll draw a winning commenter next Wednesday (24th November), so check back then.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

I'm thrilled to be a Darksider. Speculative fiction is fun. It is a world where anything is possible. Our deepest fears are given form. Our wildest dreams explored.

I write a paranormal romance series for Carina Press. It features angels and sexy djinn, mixing the romantic traditions of Arabia with modern day tensions--and in the second novella, Angel Thief, adding an Australian setting.

I adore storytelling, whether on television, in a book or by a five year old explaining the forbidden chocolate on her fingers. People have an amazing gift for sharing the wonder of life and their experiences through stories.

When Eleni invited me to write this introductory post I thought I'd share my fascination with Australia's unique cryptozoology -- yowies, bunyips, Queensland tigers. The rest of the world has no idea what's lurking in our countryside, waiting to burst onto the paranormal scene. However, I decided it would give people the wrong idea of my personality if my introduction included a chat about bunyips. I'm shy rather than scary and you'll never find me chewing on a stranger's leg at midnight -- no innuendo intended ;)

All that said, I did want to leave you with a rare photo of an Australian Outback monster. Unfortunately, the monster in question was more interested in eating his Aussie hat than in posing properly. In the two second window of opportunity before he snacked on the hat, I snapped this photo -- and don't believe Toby's look of long-suffering. I have photographic evidence of the devilry he was planning!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

I’m close to finished a novella with a hero who is a human/panther shape shifter. This started up a discussion amongst the paranormal gang—what makes my hero a shape shifter and not a werecat or werepanther? And is my hero in actuality a werecat shapeshifter?

My hero is going to stay a shape shifter—he doesn’t need a full moon to change his shape and he can shift at will, though at times it can be involuntary.

Either way, we all decided it comes down the author’s world building, how believable the rules and traits are that define the character.

I’m giving away an e-copy of Stone-Cold Lover, Ice-Cold Lover and Carnal Moon, one ebook of choice to three readers, with their views on the shape shifter/werecat discussion.

On the first night of each full moon, werewolves cannot resist the calling—the instinctual need to mate.

Living a double life has never been difficult for Holly, but in her world, if her species is to survive, all she can look forward to is down-and-dirty, uninhibited sex with a different partner each month. She has never had reason to complain though. Until now.

She’s fallen for Ricky Mandela, her hot, sexy, human lover. Holly can’t pretend she has a chance at a family and happily ever after. Those are human dreams. But she can’t give him up either. Will she have to lie and cheat to hold on to the man she loves?

Sofia has struggled with insecurities since her ex-husband’s infidelity—until she meets a hitchhiker. A muscular, sexy younger man with a beautiful ass. Impulsively, she pulls her car to the side of the road and gives the scrumptious hunk a ride.

Jake’s an adventurous charmer who lets Sofia know exactly how desirable she is—proving it with his skillful hands before she even stops the car. Sofia realizes she might have found a solution to her battered self-esteem, if she has the nerve to take what Jake’s offering—a ride of the more carnal variety.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

I grew up reading Fantasy and SF, didn't know it was a genre but loved it all the same. I read Georgette Heyer's regency stories, never realising they were 'Romance'. They were just great stories, which happened to have a love story as the central theme.
I like a book which has a love story running through it. Love is a great motivator, whether it's a mother's love for their child, a king's love for his people, or the love you have for someone special.

The characters in my fantasy trilogy, King Rolen's Kin, are motivated by love, love for their family, love for that special person, some even suffer unrequited love. They are also motivated by ambition, the need to see justice done and, sometimes, the simple need to survive.

That's the difference between a Romance book and a Fantasy with a love story. Romantic love is the prime motivation in a Romance, while it is one of many/several motivations in a Fantasy.Having said that, the line between some Dark Urban Fantasies (as the Romance field defines them) and Dark Urban Fantasies (as the Speculative Fiction field defines them) is getting finer and finer. Take Trent Jamieson's 'Death Most Definite' and Tansy Rayner Robert's 'Power and Majesty', both are published by speculative fiction publishers, Orbit and Voyager respectively.

Trent's trilogy is set in Brisbane were Death is a business, Tansy's trilogy is set in an invented city which is threatened by supernatural means. In the first books of both these series love is a strong motivation. In Trent's book the main character, Steve, falls in love with a dead girl (it's not icky, he can see dead people and she's there to help him). In Tansy's book the main character, Velody, is swept into the supernatural world filled with very sexy, rather menacing males. There's bucket loads of passion and sensuality. Both books have drama and action, both books have sex and love, and both books end with the promise of more to come (no Happily Ever After).

Now compare that to your Romance Dark Urban Fantasy -- the protagonist, a feisty female, is swept into a supernatural world, where sensual, menacing characters interact with them, and team up while they fight off evil. Plus there's no HEA because the main character goes in to further adventures in a series.

So there you have it. A Romance or a fantasy with a love story, the line is getting ever thinner!

The King Rolen's Kin Trilogy came out in July, August and September of this year. I had a new fantasy trilogy - The Outcast Chronicles due out in 2012.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Hey everyone, welcome to the Darksiders first Magic Thursday giveaway!

Before I actually get on to the giveaway, I just want to take a moment to thank Eleni Konstantine for all the hard work she's done setting up this blog. She claims it was a joint effort, but she lies. She did it all, and I just threw in the occasional comment. So, a huge round of applause to Eleni, everyone!

Back to the giveaway....

For our very first giveaway, we have two prizes. The first is signed copies of the first three Riley Jenson books (Full Moon Rising, Kissing Sin & Tempting Evil) and the second is a copy (unsigned) of Kelley Armstrong's Haunted.

All you have to do is leave a comment about what sort of blog topics you'd like to see here on the Darkside (when we get around to proper blogging, that is) to be in the running.